Hung up on Hormuz: the old-world order of oil was just shattered by the closing of Iran’s key global chokepoint

For every CEO, investor, and policymaker reading the headlines today, the math is becoming terrifyingly simple: when oil tests the $90-per-barrel point, the global economy begins to fracture.

We have long been taught that energy security is a matter of geography, defined by who owns the land, who controls the straits, and who signs the treaties. Now the Strait of Hormuz, a key chokepoint for the global oil trade, has been shut by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard following the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes that began on February 28.